1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clutch plate for a friction clutch, the clutch plate including a hub with internal gearing for connection to a transmission shaft, external gearing on the hub plate for engaging with a mating gear with play towards the circumference (i.e., some rotational play between the external gearing on the hub and the mating gear), cover plates provided on both sides of the hub plate, the cover plates being nonrotationally connected to each other and held at a distance from one another, and one of the cover plates being provided with friction linings, windows provided in the hub plate and the cover plates for placement of the springs of a load spring feature, used during engagement, for elastic torque transfer, a hub plate as part of an idle spring feature, used during disengagement, between one of the cover plates and the hub plate, which are nonrotationally engaged with the external gearings of the hub, as well as at least a cover plate between the hub plate of the idle spring feature and the cover plate of the load spring feature for the positioning of springs in windows provided in the cover plate and hub plate for providing for elastic rotation in the region of rotational play between the external gearing and the mating gear, the cover plate being nonrotationally engaged with the hub plate by means of angular shaped projections extending in the axial direction, and the cover plate being supported by the hub plate in the axial direction.
2. Background Information
A clutch plate of the above mentioned design is described, for example, in German Patent Application 39 21 283. With this construction, one of the cover plates of the load spring feature is supported relative to the hub by a radial elastic ring bearing. This ring bearing allows for a certain amount of motion between the hub and the cover plates as well as a certain pivoting motion.
In this connection, reference is made to German Patent 32 48 119 as a current state of the art, in which patent one of the cover plates of a load spring feature is supported relative to the hub by means of a bushing of near cone shaped contour, a force in the axial direction being applied to this bushing towards the centering position.
It has been found, that solutions with today's transmission design, according to the current state of the art, are not sufficient and operationally safe, without supporting the transmission shaft in a pilot bearing of the crankshaft. The essentially radial suspension is not sufficient in some cases, and pure pivoting capability is not sufficient in others.